Airlines flouting safety norms

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has found all major domestic airlines to be flouting safety rules for cutting corners in a slow market. The DGCA, in its financial audit, has found that the market leader, Jet Airways, did not have trainers as required by DGCA norms. Tushar Srivastava reports. Findings | No compromise on air safety: Ajit Singh

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has found all major domestic airlines to be flouting safety rules for cutting corners in a slow market.

The DGCA, in its financial audit, has found that the market leader, Jet Airways, did not have trainers as required by DGCA norms. And of the total number of flights the airline cancelled, one-third was due to poor passenger load factor. Worse, its audit plan for safety in 2011 has not been fully complied with.

The DGCA report said the fleet induction plan of IndiGo, the fastest growing domestic carrier, needed to be reviewed. The airline suppressed information by not reporting incidents. The airline is also suffering from a shortage of training examiners and instructors.

The report said the low-cost carrier, SpiceJet, did not have any qualified instructor on their Boeing 737 fleet.

SpiceJet, however, told HT that it had 30 qualified instructors, while IndiGo said it had always complied with the regulator's instructions. Kingfisher Airlines, meanwhile, submitted a detailed response to DGCA on Monday.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said he would not tolerate any violation of safety norms.